Shares of Green Mountain were up more than 7 percent at one point on Thursday. There was largely no reason to explain the move.

Instead, investors might be looking ahead to one detail from Starbucks' earnings report: How did the Verismo perform?

The Starbucks Verismo first went on sale last quarter, and investors should anticipate some color on how the device has been performing. Like Green Mountain's staple Keurig brewer, the Verismo is a single-serve coffee machine.

Starbucks has a business relationship with Green Mountain, so it has continually stressed that the two devices are aimed at different markets. But that hasn't stopped investors from projecting Verismo strength as a sign Keurig weakness.

However, if Starbucks indicates that Verismo sales have been sluggish, there could be a surge in Green Mountain's share price. Particularly as the company faces a heavy short interest -- about 27 percent of outstanding shares have been sold short. The effect of such a high short interest can be seen in shares of Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX), which surged about 40 percent on Thursday after the company reported better than expected earnings.

Slabaugh isn't expecting a lot from the Verismo -- at least not yet.

“It's going to be tough for them to hold market share in the near term, given the multiple, cheaper private-label k-cups in stores recently...Verismo checks are mixed. Not confident on its success yet.”

Shares of Starbucks traded near $54 on Thursday, while Green Mountain hovered near $43.50.